A few weeks ago we showed you the ruins at Mesa Verde National Park. This is a place that you can go look at the ruins of a civilization before inhabited the region around the turn of the first millennium. These Ancetral Pueblo people not only were in Mesa Verde between 600 and 1300 AD but they were in other surrounding areas. And if you are up for an adventure, not too far away, there are remote places that you are allowed to walk up and explore ruins on your own without any development.

Out of respect of not helping to promote too many people to go to this site, we’re not going to give an exact location, but this is Monarch Cave.

This trip is not for the feint of heart, especially in the summer. The temperature in our truck was 119° (once it started moving). While this thermometer will read higher than the actual temperature, it was still probably higher than 110° for the hike. And even though it’s a dry heat, that’s a dangerous level and you do need to be careful and bring plenty of water.

The hike is not too challenging, but you can tell it is not regularly traveled.